Nuclear power in Germany

Nuclear power in Germany accounted for 13.3% of German electricity supply in 2021,[3] generated by six power plants, of which three were switched off at the end of 2021, the other three due to cease operation at the end of 2022 according to the complete nuclear phase-out plan of 2011. However, in early 2022 this plan was called into question once more in light of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine which threatens Germany's supply of natural gas. There have been calls to either delay the shutdown of the remaining three reactors or to restart operation in those reactors that were shut down in late 2021.

The Grafenrheinfeld Nuclear Power Plant in Germany, which was shut down in 2015. Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition announced on 30 May 2011, that Germany's 17 nuclear power stations will be shut down by 2022, in a policy reversal following Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.[1]
Gross generation of electricity by source in Germany from 1990 to 2020, which shows the shift from nuclear and coal to renewables and fossil gas
German electricity by source in 2020
  •   Nuclear: 60.9 TW⋅h (12.6%)
  •   Brown coal: 81.94 TW⋅h (16.9%)
  •   Hard coal: 35.56 TW⋅h (7.4%)
  •   Natural gas: 59.08 TW⋅h (12.2%)
  •   Wind: 131.69 TW⋅h (27.2%)
  •   Solar: 50.7 TW⋅h (10.5%)
  •   Biomass: 45.45 TW⋅h (9.4%)
  •   Hydro: 18.27 TW⋅h (3.8%)
Net generated electricity in 2020[2]

German nuclear power began with research reactors in the 1950s and 1960s with the first commercial plant coming online in 1969. Nuclear power has been a topical political issue in recent decades, with continuing debates about when the technology should be phased out. The anti-nuclear movement in Germany has a long history dating back to the early 1970s, when large demonstrations prevented the construction of a nuclear plant at Wyhl. This greatly intensified when the Chernobyl disaster happened in 1986 and radionuclides released by the accident could be detected in much of Germany.[4][5] The topic received renewed attention and policy reversals when the anti-nuclear Green party was part of the federal government from 1998 to 2005, at the start of 2007 due to the political impact of the Russia-Belarus energy dispute, in 2010 when the economy-friendly FDP was part of Merkel's coalition, and in 2011 after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan.[6] Within days of the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, large anti-nuclear protests occurred in Germany. Protests continued and, on 29 May 2011, Merkel's government announced that it would close all of its nuclear power plants by 2022.[7][8] Political writer David Frum characterized Merkel's decision as a political move to improve her approval ratings which had sagged after the post 2008 financial crisis bailout of southern Europe by Germany.[9]

Eight of the seventeen operating reactors in Germany, mostly older ones, were permanently shut down following Fukushima. Chancellor Angela Merkel said the nuclear power phase-out, previously scheduled to be completed as late as 2036, would give Germany a competitive advantage in the renewable energy era, stating, "As the first big industrialized nation, we can achieve such a transformation toward efficient and renewable energies, with all the opportunities that brings for exports, developing new technologies and jobs". Merkel also pointed to Japan's "helplessness"—despite being an industrialized, technologically advanced nation—in the face of its nuclear disaster.[10] The nuclear electricity production was primarily replaced with coal electricity production and electricity importing. One study found that the nuclear phase-out caused €3 to €8 billion in social costs per year, primarily due to increases in mortality due to exposure to pollution from fossil fuels.[11]

German engineering-industry giant Siemens announced a complete withdrawal from the nuclear industry in 2011, as a response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.[12][13] Remaining nuclear operating companies in Germany are E.ON, RWE, and EnBW. Germany remains active in basic and applied research in many nuclear fields, including the Forschungsreaktor München II, which does not have a firm shutdown date set.[14] Germany also contributes its significant expertise in particle accelerators to MYRRHA a research project into a subcritical reactor used for the nuclear transmutation of high level waste.[15][16]

History
Germany, like most countries in the world, generates the majority of its electricity from traditional fossil fuel sources. Nuclear power was developing as a major source of generation until political pressure stopped its growth in the mid-1980s. Since then no new generating stations have been constructed.
Anti-nuclear protest near nuclear waste disposal centre at Gorleben in northern Germany on 8 November 2008. The banner reads "Only the risk is certain. Atomic power? No thanks!"
The ruins of the incomplete Stendal NPP reactor building

Prior to the takeover of Nazi Germany, German universities were the employers of some of the world's most renowned nuclear physicists, including Albert Einstein, Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner, Leo Szilard and others. In 1938 Hahn and his colleague Fritz Straßmann conducted an experiment designed by Lise Meitner (who had already been driven into exile due to her Jewish ancestry) which led to the discovery of nuclear fission. Soon thereafter a "race" began between the soon to be belligerents of World War II to find - military or civilian - applications of the new technology. Hampered by infighting, lack of resources, mistakes and the suspicion of Nazi authorities against "Jewish physics", the Uranverein ("uranium club") led by Werner Heisenberg never got close to building a Uranmaschine ("uranium machine" - what the Americans called a "pile") that achieved criticality, let alone building a nuclear weapon. When the Americans took over the last German attempt at a research reactor during the war at Haigerloch in southwestern Germany, it was clear to the people involved in the Alsos Mission that Germany had fallen behind the Manhattan project by a considerable amount.[17]

German publications of the 1950s and 1960s contained criticism of some features of nuclear power including its safety. Nuclear waste disposal was widely recognized as a major problem, with concern publicly expressed as early as 1954. In 1964, one author went so far as to state "that the dangers and costs of the necessary final disposal of nuclear waste could possibly make it necessary to forego the development of nuclear energy".[18]

As in many industrialised countries, nuclear power in Germany was first developed in the late 1950s. Only a few experimental reactors went online before 1960, and an experimental nuclear power station in Kahl am Main opened in 1960. All of the German nuclear power plants that opened between 1960 and 1970 had – like otherways in the whole world – a power output of less than 1,000 MW and have now all closed down. The first almost fully commercial nuclear power plant started operating in 1969: Obrigheim operated until 2005, where it was shutdown by phaseout decision of the government. The first station with a power output of more than 1000 MW each were the two units of Biblis Nuclear Power Plant in 1974 and 1976.

A closed nuclear fuel cycle was planned, starting with mining operations in the Saarland and the Schwarzwald; uranium ore concentration, fuel rod filling production in Hanau; and reprocessing of the spent fuel in the never-built nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Wackersdorf. The radioactive waste was intended to be stored in a deep geological repository, as part of the Gorleben long-term storage project. Today, there is a "ergebnisoffener" searching process over the whole country for the storage of the irradiated nuclear fuel.

In the early 1960s there was a proposal to build a nuclear power station in West Berlin, but the project was dropped in 1962. Another attempt to site a reactor in a major city was made in 1967, when BASF planned to build a nuclear power station on its ground at Ludwigshafen, to supply process steam. The project was withdrawn by BASF.[18]

In 1959, 15 municipal electric companies established the Association of Experimental Reactor GmbH (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Versuchsreaktor, AVR) to demonstrate the feasibility and viability of a gas-cooled, graphite-moderated high temperature reactor (HTGR). In the early 1960s, it started the design and construction of AVR at the Jülich Research Centre. First criticality was attained in 1966, and the AVR was in operation for more than 22 years. Despite the fuel feed and discharge system showed excellent availability, the AVR was shut down for political reasons in 1988. The AVR was designed to breed uranium-233 from thorium-232. Thorium-232 is over 100 times as abundant in the Earth's crust as uranium-235.

In 1965, before the AVR started operation, a basic design for a commercial demonstration HTGR reactor using thorium was started, the THTR-300. The HTGR, rated at 300 MWe, synchronized with the grid in 1985. Six months later a fuel pebble became lodged in the reactor core. After repairs, it was restarted and operated from July 1986, reaching full power in September 1986. It operated until September 1988, and was shutdown in September 1989.

In the early 1970s, large public demonstrations prevented the construction of a nuclear plant at Wyhl. The Wyhl protests were an example of a local community challenging the nuclear industry through a strategy of direct action and civil disobedience. Police were accused of using unnecessarily violent means. Anti-nuclear success at Wyhl inspired nuclear opposition throughout Germany and elsewhere.[19]

The Rheinsberg Nuclear Power Plant was the first (mostly experimental) nuclear power plant in East Germany. It was of low power and operated from 1966 until 1990. The second to be commissioned, the Greifswald Nuclear Power Plant, was planned to house eight of the Russian 440 MW VVER-440 reactors. The first four went online between 1973 and 1979. Greifswald 5 operated for less than a month before it was closed, the other three were cancelled during different stages of their build-up. In 1990, during the German reunification, all eastern Germany nuclear power plants were closed due to flaws in safety standards. The Stendal Nuclear Power Plant in East Germany was to be the largest nuclear power station in Germany. After German reunification, and due to concerns about the Soviet design, construction was stopped and the power station was never completed. In the 1990s the three cooling towers which had been erected were demolished, and the area is an industrial estate today.

By 1992, a group of German and Swiss firms planned to proceed with construction of a HTR-500, a design that made considerable use of the THTR-300 technology. But the by then politically hostile environment in the light of the Chernobyl disaster as well as technical issues with the THTR-300 halted any effort. The technology is now pursued by the Chinese as the HTR-PM.

Operators

As of 2016 the nuclear power plant operators in Germany comprise:

Construction companies

In September 2011, Siemens, which had been responsible for constructing all 17 of Germany's existing nuclear power plants, announced that it would exit the nuclear sector following the Fukushima disaster and the subsequent changes to German energy policy. It will no longer build nuclear power plants anywhere in the world. The company's chairman, Peter Löscher, said that "Siemens was ending plans to cooperate with Rosatom, the Russian state-controlled nuclear power company, in the construction of dozens of nuclear plants throughout Russia over the coming two decades".[13][20] Peter Löscher has supported the German government's planned energy transition to renewable energy technologies, calling it a "project of the century" and saying Berlin's target of reaching 35% renewable energy sources by 2020 was feasible.[21]

An October 2016 story in the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that Finnish operator TVO is calling on Siemens to take financial responsibility for the completion of Unit 3 of the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant in Finland, because its project partner, the French-German Areva Group, is being broken up by the French government. Unit 3, an EPR, has a history of delays and its future profitability is in doubt.[22][23]

Accidents
Main article: Nuclear accidents by country
See also: Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents
Nuclear power accidents in Germany[24][25]
DateLocationDescriptionCost (in 2006 US$ million)
1975Greifswald, East GermanyA near core meltdown occurred at the Greifswald plant: Three out of six cooling water pumps were switched off for a failed test. A fourth pump broke down and control of the reactor was lost. 10 fuel elements were damaged before recovery443
4 May 1986Hamm-Uentrop, West GermanyOperator actions to dislodge damaged fuel elements at the thorium high-temperature reactor released radiation to 4 km2 surrounding the facility267
17 December 1987Hessen, West GermanyStop valve failed at the Biblis Nuclear Power Plant, with contamination of local area13

Closures and phase-out
See also: Nuclear phase-out § Germany
Eight of the seventeen operating reactors in Germany were permanently shut down following the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster

During the chancellorship of Gerhard Schröder, the social democratic-green government had decreed Germany's final retreat from using nuclear power by 2022, but the phase-out plan was initially delayed in late 2010, when during chancellorship of center-right Angela Merkel the coalition conservative-liberal government decreed a 12-year delay of the schedule.[26] This delay provoked protests, including a human chain of 50,000 from Stuttgart to the nearby nuclear plant in Neckarwestheim.[27] Anti-nuclear demonstrations on 12 March attracted 100,000 across Germany.[28]

On 14 March 2011, in response to the renewed concern about the use of nuclear energy the Fukushima incident raised in the German public and in light of upcoming elections in three German states, Merkel declared a 3-month moratorium on the reactor lifespan extension passed in 2010.[29] On 15 March, the German government announced that it would temporarily shut down 8 of its 17 reactors, i.e. all reactors that went online before 1981.[30] Former proponents of nuclear energy such as Angela Merkel, Guido Westerwelle, and Stefan Mappus changed their positions,[31] yet 71% of the population believed that to be a tactical manoeuvre related to upcoming state elections.[32] In the largest anti-nuclear demonstration ever held in Germany, some 250,000 people protested on 26 March under the slogan "heed Fukushima – shut off all nuclear plants".[33]

On 30 May 2011, the German government announced a plan to shut all nuclear reactors by 2022.[34] Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen stated of the decision, "It's definite. The latest end for the last three nuclear power plants is 2022. There will be no clause for revision".[6] Prior to the decision, Germany's renewable energy sector already provided 17% of Germany's electricity and employed about 370,000.[10] The decision to phase-out nuclear power has been called the swiftest change of political course since unification.[35] Only a year earlier Angela Merkel's government overturned a decade-old decision to close all nuclear plants by 2022.[35]

Physicist Amory Lovins has said: "Chancellor Merkel was so shocked by Fukushima that she turned Germany’s energy focus from nuclear (of which she closed 41% and will close the rest within a decade) to efficiency and renewables. That’s supported by three-fourths of Germans and opposed by no political party".[36]

Merkel stated that Germany "[does not] only want to renounce nuclear energy by 2022, we also want to reduce our CO2 emissions by 40 percent and double our share of renewable energies, from about 17 percent today to then 35 percent". The chancellor noted the "helplessness" of Japan to manage the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Merkel asserted that Germany's energy policy would be safe, reliable, and independent from imports, with affordable prices for both consumers and industry. Increased investment in natural gas plants would provide a backup to ensure consistency for those times when the solar, wind and hydroelectric sources did not meet demand.[10]

At the time of the Japanese Fukushima disaster, Germany was getting just under a quarter of its electricity from nuclear power.[10] After the Fukushima disaster, the following eight German nuclear power reactors were declared permanently shut down on 6 August 2011: Biblis A and B, Brunsbuettel, Isar 1, Kruemmel, Neckarwestheim 1, Philippsburg 1 and Unterweser.[37]

Global status of nuclear deployment:
  Operating reactors, building new reactors
  Operating reactors, planning new build
  No reactors, building new reactors
  No reactors, new in planning
  Operating reactors, stable
  Operating reactors, decided on phase-out
  Civil nuclear power is illegal
  No reactors

Some German manufacturers and energy companies have criticized the phase-out plans, warning that Germany could face blackouts.[38] While this did not happen[39] there has been an increase in voltage fluctuations which has damaged industrial facilities and caused them to install voltage regulators.[40] A 2020 study by the Haas School of Business found that the lost nuclear electricity production has been replaced primarily by coal-fired production and net electricity imports. The social cost of this shift from nuclear to coal is approximately twelve billion US dollars per year, mostly from the eleven hundred additional deaths associated with exposure to the local air pollution emitted when burning fossil fuels.[41] Swedish energy company Vattenfall went in front of the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) to seek compensation from the German government for the premature shut-down of its nuclear plants.[42][43]

On 5 December 2016, the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) ruled that the nuclear plant operators affected by the accelerated phase-out of nuclear power following the Fukushima disaster are eligible for "adequate" compensation. The court found that the nuclear exit was essentially constitutional but that the utilities are entitled to damages for the "good faith" investments they made in 2010. The utilities can now sue the German government under civil law. E.ON, RWE, and Vattenfall are expected to seek a total of €19 billion under separate suits.[44][45][46] Six cases were registered with courts in Germany, as of 7 December 2016.[47][48]

As of March 2019, only seven nuclear plants had been left in operation and should be scheduled to be shut down and dismantled.[49] As of early 2022, three plants remain for the final year.

Renewed debate in light of the Ukraine conflict

After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, German energy policy - which had up to that point relied on Russian imports (particularly natural gas) to a large degree[50] - was re-evaluated, including a temporary suspension of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline.[51] The German minister of economy and climate, Robert Habeck answered in an interview that he would be "open" to extending the life of the remaining three nuclear power plants, but expressed skepticism as to the feasibility and sensibility of such a move.[52] Several newspapers called for a re-opening of the debate on the nuclear phaseout, including the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung[53][54][55] The (former) operators of Germany's remaining three nuclear power plants as well as the three reactors that had been shut down in late 2021 (but not yet dismantled) commented that they are "open" to negotiations with the government as to extending the lifetime of those reactors or restarting those that were already shut down.[56][57]

Radioactive waste management

Nuclear power plants take years to be dismantled and contaminated sites have to be cleared and declared free of radiation.[49] One estimate puts the cost of dismantling Germany's nuclear reactor sites at €18 billion, not counting the cost of radioactive waste disposal.[58]

No country has permanent storage sites for nuclear energy waste and spent nuclear fuel is stockpiled in temporary locations.[59] In Germany, heavily contaminated spent fuel rods are stored in Castor containers on several temporary sites around the country.[58]

Germany is preparing the former iron-ore mine Schacht Konrad in Salzgitter as a national facility for the permanent disposal of low- to medium-grade radioactive waste materials.[58][49]

Nuclear waste liability buyout 2016
Main article: Nuclear Waste Disposal Fund

On 19 October 2016, the German cabinet (Bundeskabinett) finalized a deal with nuclear power plant operators E.ON, EnBW, RWE, and Vattenfall over long-term nuclear waste disposal. Under the agreement, the four operators are freed of responsibility for storing radioactive waste – that responsibility is instead transferred to the state. In return, the operators will pay a total of €17.4 billion into a state-administered fund to finance the interim and final storage of nuclear waste. They will also pay an additional "risk surcharge" of €6.2 billion (35.5%) to cover the eventuality that costs exceed current projections and that the interest accrued by the fund is lower than expected. The operators will be responsible for decommissioning and deconstructing their own nuclear power plants, as well as preparing their radioactive waste for final storage.

Critics, including the German Renewable Energy Federation and BUND, claim the total of €23.6 billion would prove insufficient and that future taxpayers will carry the risk.[60]

The draft law is available in German.[61] It is due to be enacted in early 2017.

Transmutation

While the official policy of Germany is to dispose of spent fuel in a deep geological repository inside Germany's borders,[62] Germany is also involved in research into nuclear transmutation of high level waste (primarily Actinides, which account for most of the long-term radiotoxicity of spent nuclear fuel). An important research project underway in Belgium is MYRRHA which relies on German suppliers for the particle accelerator which is in a sense the "heart" of every Accelerator Driven System and whose reliability is the key issue to be solved before such systems can be commercialized.[63]

Replacement by renewables and gas from Russia
Main articles: Electricity sector in Germany and Renewable energy in Germany

Since nuclear power generated almost a third of the electricity in Germany, many thought that the country would have to import energy as the nuclear phase-out progressed. At first, Germany was still selling more electricity than it bought, due to its renewable energy industry.[64] Renewable energy supplied a record 20.8% of Germany's electricity in the first half of 2011, from wind power, solar power, biomass and hydro. Germany installed over 7,400 MW of solar in 2010 and another 7,000 MW was added in 2011. Solar and wind capacity is expected to grow by 32% from 2012 to 2013. Since 2011 the price of electricity has risen by 20%[65] and as of 2018 the cost of electricity in Germany is the 10th most expensive compared to other countries in the world.[66]

Germany has combined the phase-out with an initiative for renewable energy and wants to increase the efficiency of fossil power plants in an effort to reduce the reliance on coal. According to the former German Minister for the Environment Jürgen Trittin, in 2020, this would cut carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent compared with 1990 levels. Germany has become one of the leaders in the efforts to fulfill the Kyoto protocol. Critics of the German policy have called it a mistake to abandon nuclear power, claiming the only alternative to nuclear power was coal and abandoning nuclear power was therefore contradictory to the goal of lowering CO2 emissions.[67]

As a result of its efforts and subsidies, Germany has developed advanced non-conventional renewable energy for electricity generation, particularly in photovoltaic and wind turbine installations. At the same time, Germany continues to rely heavily on coal power, with usage increasing to offset the phase-out of nuclear energy.[68]

The German nuclear industry has insisted that its shutdown would cause major damage to the country's industrial base. In 2012, member firms of the Verband der Industriellen Energie- und Kraftwirtschaft (VIK) reported power failures of several seconds duration, combined with a rise in frequency fluctuations. These were reportedly caused by network overloads due to the shutdown of nuclear power plants, and an increase in wind power generation.[69] VIK also fear that industrial control units will be damaged by outages.

The cost of replacing Germany's nuclear power generation with renewable energy has been officially estimated by the German Ministry of Economics at about €0.01/kWh (about €55 billion for the next decade), on top of the €13 billion per year already devoted to subsidizing renewables. However, unofficial estimates of the ministry, and of the Rhenish-Westphalian Institute for Economic Research (RWI), German Energy Agency (DENA), Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBV), and the government-owned development bank (KfW), put the cost several times higher, at about €250 billion ($340 B) over the next decade.[70][71]

In March 2013, the administrative court for the German state of Hesse ruled that a three-month closure imposed by the government on RWE's Biblis A and B reactors as an immediate response to Fukushima Daiichi accident was illegal.[72] The state ministry of the environment acted illegally in March 2011, when an order was issued for the immediate closure of the Biblis units. RWE complied with the decree by shutting Biblis-A immediately, however as the plants were in compliance with the relevant safety requirements, the German government had no legal grounds for shutting them. The court ruled that the closure notice was illegal because RWE had not been given sufficient opportunity to respond to the order.

Reactors
Nuclear power plants in Germany (view)
 Active plants
 Closed plants
 Unfinished plants
This section is an excerpt from List of commercial nuclear reactors § Germany.[edit]
List of nuclear reactors in Germany [ view/edit ]
Name Unit
No.		 Reactor Status Net capacity (MW) Construction start Commercial operation Closure
Type Model
AVR1HTGRPBR PrototypeShut down131 August 196119 May 196931 December 1988
Biblis1PWRSiemens-KWUShut down/in decommissioning11671 January 197026 February 19756 August 2011
2PWRKWUShut down/in decommissioning12401 February 197231 January 19776 August 2011
Brokdorf1PWRKWUShut down14101 January 197622 December 198631 December 2021
Brunsbüttel1BWRBWR-69Shut down77115 April 19709 February 19776 August 2011
Emsland1PWRKonvoi (KWU)Operational132910 August 198220 June 1988(31 December 2022)
Grafenrheinfeld1PWRKWUShut down12751 January 197517 June 198227 June 2015
Greifswald1PWRVVER-440 V-230Shut down/in decommissioning4081 March 197012 July 197414 February 1990
2PWRVVER V-230Shut down/in decommissioning4081 March 197016 April 197514 February 1990
3PWRVVER V-230Shut down/in decommissioning4081 April 19721 May 197828 February 1990
4PWRVVER V-230Shut down/in decommissioning4081 April 19721 November 197922 July 1990
5PWRVVER V-213Shut down/in decommissioning4081 December 19761 November 198924 November 1989
6PWRVVER V-213Finished; never entered service408
Grohnde1PWRKWUShut down[73]13601 June 19761 February 198531 December 2021
Grosswelzheim1BWRBWRShut down/dismantled251 January 19652 August 197020 April 1971
GundremmingenABWRGE, BWR-1Shut down/in decommissioning23712 December 196212 April 196713 January 1977
BBWRBWR-72 (KWU)Shut down[74]128420 July 197619 July 198431 December 2017
CBWRBWR-72 (KWU)Shut down[73]128820 July 197618 January 198531 December 2021
Isar1BWRBWR-69Shut down8781 May 197221 March 19796 August 2011
2PWRKonvoi (KWU)Operational141015 September 19829 April 1988(31 December 2022)
Kahl1BWRBWRShut down/dismantled151 July 19581 February 196225 November 1985
SNR-3001FBRFinished; never entered service19721985
KNK II1FBRShut down171 September 19743 March 197923 August 1991
Krümmel1BWRBWR-69 (KWU)Shut down13465 April 197428 March 19846 August 2011
Lingen1BWRBWRShut down1831 October 19641 October 19685 January 1977
Mülheim-Kärlich1PWRB & WShut down/in decommissioning121915 January 19758 August 19879 September 1988
MZFR1PHWRPHWRShut down521 December 196119 December 19663 May 1984
Neckarwestheim1PWRKWUShut down7851 February 19721 December 19766 August 2011
2PWRKonvoi (KWU)Operational13109 November 198215 April 1989(31 December 2022)
Niederaichbach1HWGCRPressure tube reactorShut down/decommissioned1001 June 19661 January 197331 July 1974
Obrigheim1PWRSiemensShut down/in decommissioning34015 March 196531 March 196911 May 2005
Philippsburg1BWRBWR-69Shut down8901 October 197026 March 19806 August 2011
2PWRKWUShut down[75]14027 July 197718 April 198531 December 2019
Rheinsberg1PWRVVER-70Shut down/in decommissioning621 January 196011 October 19661 June 1990
Stade1PWRSiemensShut down/in decommissioning6401 December 196719 May 19724 November 2003
Stendal1PWRVVER-1000/320Unfinished19831990
2PWRVVER-1000/320Unfinished19831990
3PWRVVER-1000/320Never built
4PWRVVER-1000/320Never built
THTR-3001HTGRPBRDecommissioned2963 May 19711 June 198729 September 1988
Unterweser1PWRKWUShut down/in decommissioning13451 July 19726 September 19796 August 2011
Würgassen1BWRBWR-69 (AEG)Shut down/in decommissioning64026 January 196811 November 197526 August 1994

See also

References
  1. Annika Breidthardt (30 May 2011). "German government wants nuclear exit by 2022 at latest". Reuters.
  2. https://energy-charts.info/?l=en&c=DE
  3. According to Energy Charts by Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE https://www.energy-charts.info/charts/energy_pie/chart.htm?l=en&c=DE&year=2021&interval=year, which give 13.2% for 2017 and 24.8% for 2010, compared to 11.63% in 2017 according to IAEA https://pris.iaea.org/PRIS/CountryStatistics/CountryDetails.aspx?current=DE and 22.4% in 2010 according to BDEW https://web.archive.org/web/20120207200938/http://www.bdew.de/internet.nsf/id/DE_20111216-PI-Die-Verantwortung-waechst?open&ccm=900010020010
  4. John Greenwald. Energy and Now, the Political Fallout, TIME, June 2, 1986.
  5. Hanneke Brooymans. France, Germany: A tale of two nuclear nations, The Edmonton Journal, May 25, 2009.
  6. "Germany: Nuclear power plants to close by 2022". BBC. 30 May 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  7. Caroline Jorant (July 2011). "The implications of Fukushima: The European perspective". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 67 (4): 15. doi:10.1177/0096340211414842. S2CID 144198768. Archived from the original on 15 May 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  8. Knight, Ben (15 March 2011). "Merkel shuts down seven nuclear reactors". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  9. Frum, David (8 December 2021). "The West's Nuclear Mistake - No government that really regarded climate change as its top energy priority would close nuclear plants before the end of their useful lives". The Atlantic. Merkel coasted on Schröder’s work through those early years, with approval ratings in the 70s. But then her luck ran out. The 2008–09 financial crisis touched Germany comparatively lightly, but it hit Germany’s European trading partners hard. In 2010 and 2011, the countries of Southern Europe plunged into debt crises that forced a tough choice on Germany: rescue them, or risk seeing the euro currency zone dissolve. Under that pressure, Merkel’s popularity sagged. Her disapproval numbers reached their peak of 43 percent in mid-2010. This was the political context at the time of Fukushima. And you can see why it forced a deep rethink on a profoundly risk-averse, formerly pro-nuclear chancellor. Germany has long been home to an active, mobilized movement against nuclear energy, much more so than other nuclear-using democracies. You can spend a lively evening with German friends discussing the sources of this movement’s strength. Whatever the origin, however, the antinuclear movement offered a considerable political resource to a politician willing to use it. Many politicians had pondered this opportunity in the past, including Merkel’s immediate predecessors. Merkel grasped it.
  10. Baetz, Juergen (30 May 2011). "Germany Decides to Abandon Nuclear Power by 2022". Associated Press. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  11. Jarvis, Stephen; Deschenes, Olivier; Jha, Akshaya (2019). "The Private and External Costs of Germany's Nuclear Phase-Out". Journal of the European Economic Association. doi:10.1093/jeea/jvac007. Archived from the original on 2022.
  12. John Broder (10 October 2011). "The Year of Peril and Promise in Energy Production". New York Times.
  13. "Siemens to quit nuclear industry". BBC News. 18 September 2011.
  14. "Münchner Reaktor läuft weiter!". www.tz.de. 9 June 2011.
  15. "Deutschlands Beitrag zur Entwicklung der Kernfusion und der Raumfahrt | BüSo - Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität". www.bueso.de.
  16. "Die Ewigkeit bekommt ein Ablaufdatum".
  17. "Wissenschaftsgeschichte: Hitlers Atombombe – warum es sie nicht gab". www.spektrum.de.
  18. Wolfgang Rudig (1990). Anti-nuclear Movements: A World Survey of Opposition to Nuclear Energy, Longman, p. 63.
  19. Wolfgang Rudig (1990). Anti-nuclear Movements: A World Survey of Opposition to Nuclear Energy, Longman, pp. 130–135.
  20. John Broder (10 October 2011). "The Year of Peril and Promise in Energy Production". New York Times.
  21. "Siemens to quit nuclear industry". BBC News. 18 September 2011.
  22. "How Siemens could become a nuclear company again". Clean Energy Wire (CLEW). Berlin, Germany. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  23. Kläsgen, Michael; Büschemann, Karl-Heinz (25 October 2016). "Kernenergie: Wie Siemens doch wieder zum Atomkonzern werden könnte" [Nuclear power: How Siemens could become an nuclear enterprise again]. Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Munich, Germany. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  24. Sovacool, Benjamin K. (August 2010). "A Critical Evaluation of Nuclear Power and Renewable Electricity in Asia". Journal of Contemporary Asia. 40 (3): 393–400. doi:10.1080/00472331003798350. S2CID 154882872.
  25. Benjamin K. Sovacool (2009). The Accidental Century – Prominent Energy Accidents in the Last 100 Years Archived 21 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  26. "Germany Reconsiders Reactor Lifespan Extensions". Der Spiegel. 14 March 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  27. "Nuclear safety worries spread to Europe". Guardian UK. 12 March 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  28. "Nuclear power? No thanks (again)". The Economist. 15 March 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
  29. "AKW Neckarwestheim muss vom Netz". Der Spiegel (in German). 14 March 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  30. "Germany to shut down seven reactors temporarily". Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review. 15 March 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  31. "Nuclear backlash forces Merkel to rethink energy policy". Germany: Deutsche Welle. 14 March 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  32. "Umfrage: Wähler strafen Union für Atomkurs ab". Der Spiegel (in German). 23 March 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  33. "Rekord-Demos in Deutschland. Atomstreit trifft Koalition mit voller Wucht". Der Spiegel (in German). 26 March 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  34. "German govt wants nuclear exit by 2022 at latest". Reuters. 30 May 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  35. "German Energy: Nuclear? Nein, danke". The Economist. Vol. 399, no. 8736. The Economist Newspaper Limited. 4–10 June 2011. pp. 38–40.
  36. Amory Lovins (2011). "Soft Energy Paths for the 21st Century". Archived from the original on 24 December 2013.
  37. IAEA (2011 Highlights). "Power Reactor Information System". {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  38. "Nuclear Phaseout Is an 'Historic Moment'". Der Spiegel. 30 May 2011.
  39. Alexander Ochs (16 March 2012). "The End of the Atomic Dream: One Year After Fukushima, the Shortfalls of Nuclear Energy Are Clearer Than Ever". Worldwatch.
  40. "Grid Instability Has Industry Scrambling for Solutions". 16 August 2012.
  41. "The Private and External Costs of Germany's Nuclear Phase-Out" (PDF). Energy Institute at Haas. January 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  42. "Why Vattenfall is taking Germany to court".
  43. "Atomausstieg: EU unterstützt Deutschland im Streit mit Vattenfall". Der Spiegel. 25 September 2015.
  44. "German utilities eligible for "adequate" nuclear exit compensation". Clean Energy Wire (CLEW). Berlin, Germany. 6 December 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  45. "The thirteenth amendment to the Atomic Energy Act is for the most part compatible with the Basic Law" (Press release). Karlsruhe, Germany: Bundesverfassungsgericht. 6 December 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  46. "German utilities win compensation for nuclear phaseout". Deutsche Welle (DW). Bonn, Germany. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2016. Provides a history of the nuclear exit.
  47. "Nuclear plant operators continue lawsuits". Clean Energy Wire (CLEW). Berlin, German. 8 December 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  48. "Atomausstieg: Konzerne klagen weiter – auf Auskunft" [Nuclear exit: corporations sue further – for information]. Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Berlin, German. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  49. Wecker, Katharina (3 March 2019). "Germany's atomic phase-out: How to dismantle a nuclear power plant | DW | 11 March 2019". DW.COM. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  50. Eckert, Vera; Abnett, Kate (24 February 2022). "Factbox: How dependent is Germany on Russian gas?". Reuters – via www.reuters.com.
  51. "German energy regulator suspends Nord Stream 2 certification, sets demands". CNBC. 16 November 2021.
  52. Germany, Stuttgarter Zeitung, Stuttgart. "Atomkraftwerke in Deutschland: Habeck hält Laufzeitverlängerung für nicht sinnvoll". stuttgarter-zeitung.de.
  53. Altenbockum, Jasper von. "Atomkraft: Denkverbote? Nein, danke!". Faz.net – via www.faz.net.
  54. Wetzel, Daniel (1 March 2022). "AKW: Atomkraftwerke doch nicht abschalten? So ginge es ohne russisches Gas". Die Welt – via www.welt.de.
  55. "Kohle- oder Atomenergie statt russischem Gas?". tagesschau.de.
  56. Germany, Stuttgarter Zeitung, Stuttgart. "Energieversorgung: Betreiber von Atomkraftwerken zeigen sich gesprächsbereit". stuttgarter-zeitung.de.
  57. Glas, Andreas. "Bayern diskutiert über Laufzeitverlängerung des Kernkraftwerks Isar 2". Süddeutsche.de.
  58. Zimmermann, Nils (26 April 2016). "Nuclear reactor sites: Dismantle or fence off? | DW | 26 April 2016". DW.COM. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  59. Oroschakoff, Kalina; Solletty, Solletty (19 July 2017). "Burying the atom: Europe struggles to dispose of nuclear waste". Politico. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  60. Wettengel, Julian (19 October 2016). "German utilities buy out of nuclear waste liability for 23.6 bln euros". Clean Energy Wire (CLEW). Berlin, Germany. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  61. Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur Neuordnung der Verantwortung der kerntechnischen Entsorgung [Draft law for the reorganization of the responsibility of nuclear disposal] (PDF) (in German). Berlin, Germany: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  62. "Aufgaben der BGE - BGE". www.bge.de.
  63. "Cutting-edge accelerator technologies are key to success for the MYRRHA research reactor". Physics World. 17 February 2022.
  64. "Germany's Shift to Renewables is Paying Off". SustainableBusiness.com. 30 September 2011.
  65. "What German households pay for power". Clean Energy Wire. 1 April 2019.
  66. "Cost Of Electricity By Country". www.worldatlas.com. 28 September 2018.
  67. "Germany split over green energy". BBC News. 25 February 2005. Retrieved 19 July 2008.
  68. Nelles, Roland (21 March 2007). "Germany Plans Boom in Coal Power Plants". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  69. http://www.aggbusiness.com/articles/business-news/companies-de-energised-by-blackouts-3456/
  70. Neubacher, Alexander (27 July 2011). "The Latte Fallacy: German Switch to Renewables Likely to Be Expensive". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  71. Nicola, Stefan (19 September 2011). "KfW to Provide 100 Billion Euros to Aid German Energy Transition". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  72. "Court rules Biblis closure unlawful - World Nuclear News".
  73. "Germany shuts three of its last six nuclear plants". Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  74. "German reactor permanently shut down". world-nuclear-news.org. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  75. "Germany shuts down Philippsburg 2". energycentral.com. Retrieved 8 January 2020.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.